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Hello,Time to add a new bike to the collection.Im looking for suggestions on road bikes (dont have to be lightweight!!) which come with seat stay mounts for a pannier rack - thus avoiding the need for p-clips etc.Im planning a 2 week tour of france for this bike, but dont really want to go for a pure touring bike as ideally this bike will double up as a handy winter bike (minus pannier rack!)Ive so far been looking at the ribble winter/audax and some retro peugeot carolite frames - so that gives you an idea of how wide my search is. Doesnt have to be glamorous, light, carbon or whatever - just something solid, relatively cheap and with the ability to mount a rear pannier.

the cannondale caad8 comes with the lower mounts (inside the seatstays by the dropouts). you could go with one of those seat collars that incorporates rack stay mounts, or just run it with a center 3point mount at the caliper.

Not a weight weenie and not a road bike but the Surly Cross check is definitely worth a look too. Plenty of fun with road tyres and even works pretty well as a commuter hack/light tourer. Really is a great jack of all trades kind of bike.

Go with a dolan preffisio, its designed to be a winter bike, it has clearance for 25c tyres and mudguards and has rack mounts, I put an adjustable stem and a couple spacers on mine when I toured on it because the geo is quite racey, but it is a very comfortable bike which doesnt really possess the normal aluminium bone rattling feel, I was quite content on the rough roads of scotland!Also its cheap, for a frameset with carbon forks itll set you back no more than $350-ish if you shop around!

Geometry wise, Im leaning towards the caadx - purely because Ive owned a caad9 and its geometry is fairly similair.What are peoples views on using a caadx as a winter road trainer and tourer - reasonably light I may add, nothing mroe than 2 weeks at a time. Obviously when touring Im not going to be to worried about speed, and the cross gearing should help with spinning up hills when fully laden - would it be a suitable frame to carry 2 weeks worth of kit?

Then, on the road as a winter trainer, I can easily swap the tyres over, but may find myself undergeared?

Hope some of that makes sense - basically trying to get a bike that does a bit of everything, including some cross use this winter.

tinchy wrote:Geometry wise, Im leaning towards the caadx - purely because Ive owned a caad9 and its geometry is fairly similair.What are peoples views on using a caadx as a winter road trainer and tourer - reasonably light I may add, nothing mroe than 2 weeks at a time. Obviously when touring Im not going to be to worried about speed, and the cross gearing should help with spinning up hills when fully laden - would it be a suitable frame to carry 2 weeks worth of kit?

Then, on the road as a winter trainer, I can easily swap the tyres over, but may find myself undergeared?

Hope some of that makes sense - basically trying to get a bike that does a bit of everything, including some cross use this winter.

The Caadx would be great for a tourer due to the strength requirements a cross bike would need, also cross bikes make ideal winter bikes because of the massive clearances suitable for mudguards, also the geo tends to be a bit slacker, which would come in handy if your winters are anything like they are over here in the UK just so you can be a bit more stable/controlled in or just before slippery situations, you wont need bigger gears in the winter either, personally when im out riding in winter I usually spin quite a bit and leave all the strength training and stuff for the turbo trainer.